University of Nebraska-Omaha soccer player Giovanni Giattino's biggest strength has always been distributing the ball, setting up goals for teammates and amassing assists. Saturday he rewarded himself, scoring twice as the Mavericks shut down Oral Roberts 2-0 in the teams' season finale.

Giattino finishes the season leading Omaha in assists with seven. He led his Santa Cruz Breakers Club team in assists last year and, as a junior at Santa Cruz High, he piled up 15 assists, just one shy of team-leader John Chronopoulos.

Saturday he showed he can score, too -- from just about anywhere.

Giattino broke a scoreless tie in the 55th minute when he knocked in a loose ball from point-blank range after the opposing goalie gave up a rebound. In a late desperation move Oral Roberts pulled its goalie for an extra attacker, but Giattino snuffed any comeback hopes by lacing a shot into the empty net from beyond midfield.

The Mavericks freshman increased his scoring output to four goals on the season -- one behind team leader Vance Rockwood. Giattino led the team -- and all Summit League freshman -- with 15 points.

Omaha concludes its 2012 campaign with a record of 5-10-1 overall and 3-3-1 in conference play.

Here's how other former Santa Cruz County high school athletes fared last week at the collegiate level:

FOOTBALL

William Griffin, La Verne senior cornerback (St. Francis): Made four tackles -- two unassisted -- in a 59-34 loss to Cal Lutheran.

Chad Lucas, La Verne junior wide receiver/kick returner (St. Francis): Caught three passes for 40 yards, returned a kickoff five yards and recorded a tackle against Cal Lutheran.

MEN'S WATER POLO

Max Schell, Cal freshman hole set (Soquel): Earned six ejections and collected two assists, a steal and a field block across two wins: 12-10 over UC Irvine and 12-9 over Pepperdine.

Alexa Rosendale, Humboldt State senior outside hitter (Mount Madonna): Delivered the Jacks their first conference win of the season with 16 kills, 23 digs and two aces against Cal State Monterey Bay. Also collected 10 kills, 18 digs and three aces in a loss to Cal State East Bay.

Kat Brown, Cal senior middle (St. Francis): Recorded nine blocks and four kills in a win over Oregon State and five blocks in a win over Oregon.

Karissa Cook, Stanford senior setter (Harbor): Had 21 assists and six digs in a sweep of Oregon State.

Ariel Rittenhouse, Florida State senior diver (Santa Cruz native): Scored two wins with a 355.80 on the 3-meter board and a 321.83 on the 1-meter board in a tri-meet sweep of Florida Southern and Emory.

Shannon Stewart, UC Davis sophomore diver (Soquel): Took 17th at the Trojan Invitational with a score of 202.45.

Maya Sprinsock, UC Davis junior swimmer (Kirby): Swam well in two events in a tri-meet with UCLA and Washington State. Took fifth in the 100 breaststroke (1:07.68) and fourth in the 200 breast (2:25.77).

County Connections appears Thursdays in the Sentinel. Contact sports@santacruzsentinel.com if you know of a former Santa Cruz County prep athlete now playing at the collegiate level.